The Wizard

Chapter 10

"Time dampens afflictions and disagreements because we change and almost become different men."

Blaise Pascal.

When a wizard opens a portal, whether it is to another world or within his own, a thin layer of energy forms a barrier that prevents the exchange of air or anything else, like a transparent film separating the two places. The wizard, when crossing it, does not feel any difficulty and just changes places without transition, without feeling any effect, besides being instantaneous.

That's why Igor didn't take long to find out that there was something very wrong with that pursuit, since the passage through the portal did not occur in the usual way. For the first time, he had the impression of floating in nothingness and also began to feel a strange malaise that was accompanied by a dizziness and, soon after, a strong sensation of sensory deprivation that scared him a lot. He wouldn't be able to explain how long he spent in that process, because it could well have been ten seconds or an eternity. He was already on the verge of despair when he felt his body again, finding out that he was falling, luckily into something soft.

Not two seconds later, letting out another swear word, the bird came to rest on top of him and the young man thanked the Goddess for him not having turned into the dragon before entering the portal, because he would have ended up crushed by the weight of the giant.

Too dizzy to get up, Igor remained quiet until he was sure it was safe to get up. The first one was Gwydion, who took flight to a nearby tree, perching on a branch.

"We are in some open place, with low houses of primitive aspect and you are lying on a pile of hay. This must be a farm or something similar" explained the dragon, still in the shape of a bird. "There are people coming and they don't look friendly at all, so you better recover soon."

The young man got up slowly, still incapacitated, and saw the men in the distance, but remained seated on the hay.

"I'm too dizzy to stand up and something happened to me, because I can't invoke my powers not even to improve or heal myself" said Igor, worried. "It must have been something from this crazy portal that affected me and I hope it's temporary. Don't transform or do anything unless they try to kill me because, as it is, I'll depend on your abilities. For sure this place is beyond strange."

"No doubt" agreed Gwydion. "I've never felt these things before and it was very unpleasant."

The men who approached wore rustic tunics, tied at the waist with a kind of sisal rope. In their hands, they carried forks or pieces of wood and, besides that, they were similar to any Caucasian peasant.

One of them, who seemed to be the leader, came closer, suspicious. He looked carefully at the wizard, and keeping his guard, spoke to his friends. When he opened his mouth, Igor was perplexed because he understood the language perfectly, despite the nuances that presented themselves, probably regional, but he concluded that he had gotten into a lot of trouble, since the Celtic language had been dead for almost two thousand years except for the Citadel, in the Crystal World.

"He's not a Roman," said the guy, turning to his companions and less worried, "the clothes are strange, but he looks like a druid warrior."

"Yeah, but it could be another one of the infamous tricks of the Romans to destroy us," said another, distrustful. "This guy fell from the sky and should be dead, not to mention that he doesn't have a staff!"

"Of course not," retorted another, who seemed more cultured than his companions. "The Romans don't have clothes that good, look at the quality of that cape!"

Igor quickly absorbed the initial shock and, with the observations obtained, drew his conclusions. As he was still weak and dizzy, he got up with all caution, not to stagger, and began to clean his clothes, hitting them with his hands. He smiled at the men who backed away a step and wielded their makeshift weapons, mostly forks or clubs.